Image stabilization is well known in the art of image acquiring. Image stabilization means to compensate for movement of the image acquiring device when acquiring an image. The image acquiring device may be a still camera or a video camera, and could be for example a surveillance camera.
There are two main technical principles for image stabilization: electrical image stabilization and optical image stabilization.
Electrical image stabilization is a software based technique where the acquired image is digitally modified or displaced in order to reduce the effect of movement in the camera. Optical image stabilization means that a physical component in the camera is shifted opposite to a detected movement of the camera. The component is thereby stabilized in relation to the camera's field of view. The stabilization is applied to either a lens element (referred to as lens-based stabilization) or an image sensor element (referred to as in-camera stabilization or sensor stabilization).
One example of a technique for optical image stabilization is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,325. In this document, a correction lens may be locked by a locking device comprising a solenoid.